"(I'm a) Road Runner" is a hit song by Junior Walker & the Allstars, and was the title track of the successful 1966 album '' Road Runner''. Written by the team of

Holland–Dozier–Holland Holland–Dozier–Holland, often abbreviated as H-D-H, was a songwriting and production team consisting of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the ...

, it was released on the Tamla (Motown) label in 1966 and reached number 20 in the U.S. and in 1969 number 12 in the UK.AllMusic.com
/ref>HDH Records
/ref>

Background

Walker plays the distinctive

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

solo, backed by Mike Terry on

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

with Willie Woods on guitar. During the recording, it was discovered that Walker could play the song in only two keys. So Walker sang in a key that he could not play, and after being recorded, the saxophone track was sped up to match. The pictorial single sleeve used a running bird similar to the Road Runner cartoon character.

Personnel

Junior Walker & the Allstars *

Junior Walker Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. (June 14, 1931 – November 23, 1995), known professionally as Junior Walker, was an American multi-instrumentalist (primarily saxophonist) and vocalist who recorded for Motown during the 1960s. He also performed as a sess ...

–

solo, vocals *Willie Woods – guitar *Victor Thomas – organ *James Graves – drums Additional personnel *Johnny Dawson – tambourine *

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

– other instrumentationThe Complete Motown Singles Vol. 6: 1966 iner notes New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records ** Johnny Griffith – piano **

James Jamerson James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bassist. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases un ...

– bass ** Joe Messina – guitar **Norris Patterson – tenor saxophone ** Mike Terry –

** Eddie Willis – guitar

Chart history

Later versions

Humble Pie Humble Pie are an English Rock music, rock band formed by Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first Supergroup (music), supergroups of the late 1960s and enjoyed success in the early 1970s ...

included an extended version of this song titled, "Road Runner/Road Runner's 'G' Jam", in their 1972 album Smokin'. * British-American rock group

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

recorded the song with Dave Walker on lead vocals for their 1973 album ''

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

''. * The

Jerry Garcia Band The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly tour ...

performed a version of the song in 1975, which was featured on '' The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2: Let It Rock''. *

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

performed his version, in September 1976, in episode 1 of the second season of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. Taylor also included the song on his 2008 album '' Covers''. *

Steve Gaines Steven Earl Gaines (September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977) was an American musician. He is best known as a guitarist and backing vocalist with rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1976 until his death in the October 1977 airplane crash that claime ...

from

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...

performed the song with his own band, Crawdad, in the mid-1970s. A recording of them performing it was released on Gaines's 2001 live compilation CD, ''Okie Special''. *

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a s ...

included the song on his 1977 album ''

I'm in You ''I'm in You'' is the fifth studio album by English musician and songwriter Peter Frampton. It was released on 3 June 1977, almost a year and a half after his 1976 signature breakthrough live album, '' Frampton Comes Alive!'' It was recorded at E ...

''. * Publishing rights organization BMI had songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland credited with co-writing

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist prominent for his dis ...

's 1988 song " Roll with It" due to its resemblance to "(I'm a) Roadrunner". * The

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

performed a version as the opening song at their concert on March 21, 1986 at Hampton Coliseum.

References

External links

List of cover versions of "(I'm a) Road Runner"
at SecondHandSongs.com {{DEFAULTSORT:I'm a Road Runner Motown singles 1966 singles Songs written by Holland–Dozier–Holland Junior Walker songs 1966 songs